he tries to help at least one person every day. words he lives by. so on that note, if anyone needs a cake topper that's also a bobble head, i would be happy to lend you mine. in new york for abc news, i'm danny, new. wow. >> something nice for somebody every day. that's good to live by. thank you for joining us. world news tonight with david muir starts now. we'll see you tonight, breaking news. hurricane milton now back up to a category 5 hurricane again, set to slam into florida. millions tonight being warned, this is their last chance to evacuate. the new forecast just in from the hurricane center. also breaking at this hour, just moments ago, the justice department saying it has foiled an election day terror plot right here in the u.s. first tonight, the race to escape hurricane milton. the major storm reintensifying to a category 5, with winds now up to 165 miles per hour.

hurricane hunters flying into the eye, rocked by turbulence. highways jammed with vehicles, trying to get out of the path of the hurricane. >> if you choose not to evacuate, you do so at your own risk. >> david: police warning residents, time is running out. more than 1,300 gas stations across the state running out of fuel. the potentially historic storm surge, up to 15 feet set to hit the tampa bay area. ginger zee live in florida with the new timing of this hurricane, when it's now set to hit. also tonight, former president trump targeting fema again today, and tonight, after false claims, and with millions trying to recover, vice president kamala harris blasting the former president for spreading dangerous misinformation. what she said today. the breaking news at this hour. the justice department just moments ago saying they have thwarted an alleged terror plot what they just revealed. tonight, the journalist and author bob woodward and his new book reporting that when the

pandemic was raging in this country, then president donald trump secretly sent rare covid test machines to vladimir putin for putin's personal use. and woodward says trump and putin have talked up to a hatch dozen times since trump left office. tonight, what trump is saying about this. the spy rafling crisis in the middle east. the israeli military sending thousands more troops into southern lebanon. back here in the u.s., more than a dozen states suing tiktok now, claiming the wildly popular social media platform is intentionally addictive, and dangerous to the mental health of children. the mugging. the dodgers starting pitcher mugged by a mob of thieves. what they stole. and tonight, we remember a beloved baseball great. good evening and it's great to have you with us here on a tuesday night. we are watching hurricane milton on its ominous path towards

florida. late today, back up to a category 5, with winds up to 165 miles an hour. now one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the gulf. tonight, millions are under evacuation orders across florida. authorities warning them to get out now. president biden calling it a matter of life and death. at this hour, hurricane milton is a monster storm. you can see there, 480 miles from tampa. the eye is expected to make landfall somewhere in the tampa bay area. of course, this will still wobble a bit in these final hours, set to slam ashore late tomorrow night, right into the early hours of the morning. with a record storm surge as high as 15 feet. it could be the first direct hit in tampa from a major hurricane in more than 100 years. but landfall, as i mentioned, could shift right up until the last minute, and much of the state remains on high alert tonight. a team of hurricane hunters witnessing the force of hilton first-hand, flying into the eye wall to cleblgtollect data. and then, the warnings today.

police in treasure island driving through neighborhoods with emergency warnings, urging people to evacuate now. and look at this tonight. bumper to bumper traffic for miles on i-75. this is near naples, right here, the outer bands of the hurricane arrive tomorrow afternoon. the storm surge right there in naples could be as high as eight feet. again, up to 15 feet possible in tampa, which would be a record. long lines tonight at gas stations. more than 1,300 florida stations running out of gas. tanker trucks racing to refill them. those trucks are getting an escort from state police. chief meteorologist ginger zee standing by with the new forecast just in from the hurricane center. but we begin with whit johnson, in tampa, with the emergency preparations unfolding right now. >> reporter: tonight, mandatory evacuations on both coasts of florida. highways jammed, millions heeding the calls to get out of hurricane milton's path before its too late. tampa's airport already deserted. orlando's, packed, set to close tomorrow.

authorities using tropicana field with colts, a base camp for first responders. governor desantis mobilizing some 8,000 national guard troops. >> this is probably the largest national guard mobilization in advance of a storm in florida history. >> reporter: the monster hurricane strengthening back into a category 5 in the gulf. hurricane hunters jolted by extreme turbulence as they flew into milton's eye wall. the storm taking aim the tampa metro area, home to more than 3 million people, and hasn't seen a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than 100 years. >> say you're in a single story home, 12 feet is above that house. so, if you're in it, you know, basically, that's the coffin that you're in. >> reporter: many of the streets here in tampa are still lined with debris, all of this leftover from hurricane helene, which came with a record storm surge of up to eight feet in

some places. but if you take a look above from our drone camera, you can just imagine what could happen to these homes with a surge nearly twice as high. >> it was above the baseboard. >> reporter: tani tahiraj just finished gutting parts of his home after helene. >> this is it. >> reporter: this is what's left? >> this is what's left out of the house that i was able to salvage. >> reporter: now forced to evacuate again with his wife and three children. >> they're kids, this is their safety, right? this is where they come for safety. so when that's threatened, they're going to cry. not just because they lost toys or clothes or their favorite shoes, they cry because this is their safe zone. >> reporter: tampa general hospital hospital, which treats the area's most critical patients, will remain operational, hoping the aqua fence they used to keep the surge away during helene will also hold up against milton. nothing potentially like this, a storm surge up to 15 feet has happened in our lifetimes. >> that's right. >> reporter: how much does that concern you? >> well, i think, you know, i think the hospital's ready, right? it's concerning, but i think we're ready. >> reporter: and david, this

tampa neighborhood is one of many now almost deserted, as people are leaving. counties are also offering buses to help take people to shelters. we spoke to some families here who rode out the storm during hurricane helene, but this time, they tell us, they are evacuating, not taking any chances with all of this dangerous debris, and the potential threat of a 15-foot storm surge. david? >> david: yeah, that debris just from hurricane helene weeks ago. whit johnson, they're facing this next hurricane again. whit, thank you. as i mentioned off the top here tonight, millions heeding the call to evacuate. families finding themselves stuck in traffic. hundreds of gas stations running out of fuel tonight. tanker trucks carrying that fuel getting police escorts now. victor oquendo in sarasota tonight on that part of the story. >> reporter: tonight, police in florida driving through neighborhoods, warning residents to leave while they still can. >> quickly secure your home or business and safely evacuate the area. >> reporter: the race to escape slowed by traffic jams. and long lines for gas. more than 1,300 stations

statewide running out of fuel, according to gas-buddy. >> it's been, i would say, be a tormentous task to get gas. >> reporter: there is a desperate struggle to find fuel. some gas stations, like this one here in sarasota, dry. their pumps wrapped in plastic to protect from water damage. state troopers now escorting tankers to resupply gas stations. for the second time in two weeks, jan holman evacuating her home of 18 years, in the historic fishing village of cortez, florida. what did the neighborhood look like after helene? >> it's kind of heartbreaking. >> reporter: hurricane helene flooded her home with nearly three feet of water. helene did so much damage here, and now, here comes milton. what's that like? that one-two punch? >> it's like, are you kidding me? how can that happen? we're just praying that something changes at the last minute. >> reporter: her trunk now packed to the brim, evacuating again. david, we just arrived at this

gas station, one of the few in sarasota with any fuel left, but it is drying up quickly, and this line is only growing as the window to evacuate quickly closes. david? >> david: let's hope those families get the gas they need. victor oquendo, thank you. let's get right to chief meteorologist jiginger zee. ginger, i know you've been studying the latest forecast in from the hurricane center. how big do they think the hurricane will actually be when it hits? >> reporter: yeah, looks like landfall, david, will be in about 18 hours from now. late wednesday night through early thursday morning as a category 3 hurricane. we don't focus on the cat 3 or the category, because look behind me. that's tampa. and depending on how the wind moves, and here, we anticipate an offshore wind, you have the biggest surge coming at these peninsulas that face east, like st. petersburg. on the south side of it, where that dirty side is, we'll have huge impacts. let's look at the satellite image. it has been wild to watch this thing evolve over the last couple of days.

it's just north of the yucatan peninsula. so, it's moving east-northeast. it will get picked up in a trough, and that's also going to kind of add some wind shear which is going to take down the category, right? that's why it goes from a 5 down to a 3. but a cat 3 at landfall pushing that much water for that long is a big deal. look at thursday afternoon, right there at melbourne, it's just exiting. so, 12 hours of this terrorizing the center part of florida. have to show you the hurricane warnings, all the way from daytona to vero beach. also, the surge. >> you mentioned the 10 to 15, but fort myers, they upped it, i think that was the right thing, 8 to 12 feet. 5 to 8 for naples. 2 to 5 includes jacksonville. we want to show you the timing. we've got this short-term model showing a 115-mile-per-hour wind speed, david, at st. pete beach. we're going to see a lot of wind damage and up to 18 inches of rain could cause flash flooding. >> david: let's hope the wind

shear knocks this down, but don't be fooled. category 5, category 3, it still does an enormous amount of damage. ginger zee, i'll see you right there in florida, ginger, tomorrow night. tonight, with hurricane milton fast approaching, just days after hurricane helene slammed into the u.s., former president trump targeting fema again today, just as millions try to recover from this. vice president kamala harris blasting trump for spreading dangerous misinformation. and what she said about this today. here's rachel scott. >> reporter: tonight, with florida bracing for a monster storm, as georgia and north carolina reel from the effects of the last one, vice president kamala harris blasting donald trump for spreading falsehoods about fema, which has been on the ground for days. harris appearing today on abc's "the view." >> what do you think the effect of these lies are, and why is he doing this? >> it's profound, and it is the height of irresponsibility, and, frankly, callousness. i fear that he really lacks

empathy. on a very basic level. to care about the suffering of other people, and then understand the role of a leader is -- is not to beat people down, it's to lift people up. especially in a time of crisis. >> reporter: but today, trump again talking about fema. >> they said that there was just no fema. you virtually don't see anybody from fema. >> reporter: but our team has been on the ground in the storm zone for days, personally witnessing the efforts of fema and the national guard. homeowners who have told us fema has been there to help them. today, president biden accusing trump of misleading people and creating panic. >> it's un-american. it really is. people are scared to death. people know their lives are at stake. all that they work for, all they own, all that they value. >> reporter: david, four weeks ago and this race is still locked in a dead heat, but a new

poll out tonight is showing some movement. vice president kamala harris holding a slight lead over donald trump at 49%. the former president at 46%. also notable tonight, it's the first time this poll has shown more voters view harris as the candidate representing change, 46% to 44% for donald trump, david. >> david: rachel scott, good to have you in person at the desk. we're following this breaking news from the justice department at this hour. they said late today they have thwarted an alleged terror plot targeting election day right here in the u.s. let's get to pierre thomas. what have you learned? >> reporter: david, this is a new, potentially chilling terror plot stopped by the fbi. the justice department chanrgin a 27-year-old, an afghan national living in oklahoma, with plotting to kill americans on election day on behalf of isis. according to newly unsealed charges, he and a juvenile were arrested yesterday after attempting to buy two ak-47 assault rifles, ten magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition

from undercover fbi operatives. when he was arrested, doj claims he confirmed the attack was planned for election day, targeting large gatherings of people during which he and the juvenile were expected to die as martyrs. doj officials say the investigation intensified after the fbi searched his phone and discovered communication with an afghan isis recruiter. david? >> david: pierre thomas with the late headline from the justice department. pierre, thank you. we're going to turn to that new reporting from journalist bob woodward. the veteran reporter writing that during the early days of the pandemic, while it was raging here in the u.s., that then president trump secretly sent rare covid test machines to vladimir putin for putin's personal use. tonight, trump is denying that claim to our jonathan karl. >> reporter: as the covid pandemic was raging and the government could not produce enough tests for the american people, then president donald trump secretly sent rare covid test machines to russia, to vladimir putin, for the

dictator's personal use. that's according to bob woodward in a soon to be published book called "war." woodward writes that putin told trump to keep it a secret, saying, quote, i don't want you to tell anybody, because people will get mad at you, not me. kamala harris seized on woodward's reporting today, talking about it in an interview with howard stern. >> everybody was scrambling to get these kits, the tests, the covid test kits. >> you couldn't get them. >> couldn't get them. >> right. >> couldn't get them anywhere. >> right. >> and this guy, who is president of the united states is sending them to russia, to a murderous dictator for his personal use? this person who wants to be president again, who secretly is helping out an adversary, when the american people are dying by the hundreds, every day, and in need of relief. >> reporter: trump often boasts about his close relationship with putin. >> i got along very well with putin. i spoke to him a lot.

then they say how nice i was to russia. no, i wasn't nice. but we got along, we had a good relationship, which is a good thing, not a bad thing. >> reporter: woodward reports that trump has had, quote, multiple phone calls with putin since he left the white house. including at least one call earlier this year. i spoke to trump today, and he denied it all. he said you have had a number of conversations with putin. is that true? i imagine that could be -- >> no. that's false. >> reporter: oh, really? >> that's false. >> reporter: so you haven't spoken to him since you left the white house? >> no, i have not. that's false. >> reporter: and the other thing he said is that you had provided some abbott test machines to putin back during the covid pandemic. >> false. >> reporter: trump also had some choice words for woodward, calling him a storyteller who, quote, lost his marbles. woodward, though, is one of the most respected journalists of our time, and as you know, david, trump has frequently praised vladimir putin and boasted about having a good

relationship with the russian dictator. david? >> david: jonathan karl with us tonight. jon, thank you. overseas, to the war in the middle east tonight, israel's military expanding their ground assault in southern lebanon now, deploying thousands more troops, working to clear hezbollah from the border with israel. troops raising the israeli flag in this village. israel has assassinated now almost all of hezbollah's top officials. today, a surviving leader vowing to fight on, but also calling for a cease-fire. tonight, the u.s. state department skeptical of hezbollah's signaling that it now wants that cease-fire. when we come back on this busy news night, more than a dozen states suing tiktok. what they say it does to our nation's children. also, the high profile mugging tonight. the dodgers starting pitcher mugged by a mob of thieves. what they stole. and what it will soon cost

tonight, with tiktok's future in the u.s. already at stake, 14 states are now suing tiktok. the states accusing the chinese-owned company of intentionally creating a social media app, dangerous to the mental health of children. a federal law will ban tiktok in january, unless it is the sold to a government-approved owner. when we come back tonight, the dodgers star pitcher mugged. what the thieves stole. and tonight here, we remember a

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mob of thieves. one of them stealing his watch. he's scheduled to start tonight's playoff game. major league baseball's teant has died. he played for cleveland, the red sox, the yankees. he was 83. tonight, manying ga millions making some big changes. the cost of a lottery ticket will more than double from $2 to $5. lottery officials say they are improving the odds of winning. we'll see. when we come back here tonight, this category 5 hurricane barrelling towards the u.s. what they think could happen to this hurricane right before it hits so,

all right, before we go tonight, let's get right back to ginger with the latest track for hurricane milton. as i mentioned, now a category 5 hurricane again at this hour. but ginger, we're hoping that some shear will take the strength of this hurricane at least down a bit. >> reporter: yes, it has to, but that won't necessarily take down the impacts. and that's a really important point, david, because that wind shear with the trough, that's also going to drive it to the northeast eventually here, that is going to also cut down the top of it, but not all that bubble of push of water. that's why we keep talking surf. now, timing-wise, that surge comes in tomorrow afternoon, really bad, about midnight, before landfall, early thursday morning. and look, 12 hours later, it's still cutting across melbourne, just making it into the atlantic by thursday afternoon. david? >> david: the heart of this storm wednesday night into early thursday morning. ginger, we'll be watching you first thing in the morning on "gma," thank you again tonight. i'll be reporting from the hurricane zone, starting tomorrow night from florida. i'll see you then. i'm david muir, good night.

is tough. it's been very hard to wait. i will be very sad if our school is on the list. >> we're going to hear. i'm sure that that certain schools historic, historic schools in our city are going to be shut down. >> the list is now out. we'll tell you which schools could close in san francisco and in the east bay. >> rising tensions over the conflict in the middle east as hundreds turn out to protest. good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. >> i'm larry beil and i'm karina nova. it's been a long time coming. and just in the last hour, the san francisco unified school district released a list of schools that could close or